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Babi Yar
Sign in to saveAlso known as Babyn Yar, Babin Yar, Babiy Yar
ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and site of Nazi massacres
Babi Yar is a ravine in Kyiv, Ukraine, where Nazi forces carried out massive massacres during World War II, killing tens of thousands of people, primarily Jews. It remains one of the most significant Holocaust sites and a symbol of the atrocities committed during the war.
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Wikidata facts
- Country
- Ukraine
- Located in
- Kyiv
- Area
- 41.5
- Conflict
- World War II
- Image
- Babyn Yar. General view of the place of massacres.jpg
- Significant event
- Babi Yar massacre
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Babi Yar
- topic's main category
- Category:Babi Yar
- point in time
- 1941-09-30
- on focus list of Wikimedia project
- WikiProject Ukraine
- described at URL
- www.unesco.org/fr/memory-world/documentary-heritage-babyn-yar
via Wikidata · CC0
~25 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Babi Yar (Russian: Бабий Яр) or Babyn Yar (Ukrainian: Бабин Яр) is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by Nazi Germany's forces during its campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. The first and best documented of the massacres took place on 29–30 September 1941, in which some 33,771 Jews were murdered. Other victims of massacres at the site included Soviet prisoners of war, communists and Romanies. It is estimated that a total of between 100,000 and 150,000 people were murdered at Babi Yar during the German occupation.
The decision to murder all the Jews in Kyiv was made by the German military governor Generalmajor Kurt Eberhard, the Police Commander for Army Group South, SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln, and the Einsatzgruppe C Commander Otto Rasch. Sonderkommando 4a as the sub-unit of Einsatzgruppe C, along with the aid of the SD and Order Police battalions with the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police backed by the Wehrmacht, carried out the orders. Sonderkommando 4a and the 45th Battalion of the German Order Police conducted the shootings. Servicemen of the 303rd Battalion of the German Order Police at this time guarded the outer perimeter of the execution site.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Babi Yar” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.